Tottenham journalist Alasdair Gold has savaged Victor Wanyama after what he called a “shocking” cameo performance in the defeat to Leicester on Saturday.
Tottenham lost 2-1 with both Leciester goals coming after Wanyama had been introduced for Moussa Sissoko in the 67th minute of the game.
“The one mistake by Poch was the Victor Wanyama sub,” Gold said on his YouTube channel.
“In hindsight, you can absolutely slate it. Victor Wanyama came on, within moments he lost the ball allowing Leicester to break and score their equaliser.
“Then, he was caught in possession with five mins to go and was too slow to get back and try to block the winning goal. He looked like he did for most of last season, very rusty, very off the pace, passing was sloppy, tackles were late and he wasn’t good enough.
“Poch wouldn’t have been expecting… it was a horror show. He was to blame for both goals and you can’t legislate for him being so shocking. I don’t think Poch will trust him again, I think he’s blown it. I think he’ll go back to being one of the fringe guys. I’d be stunned if we see that much of him again.”
Horror show for Wanyama
Harsh words from Gold but Wanyama was really poor on Saturday.
In his defence, this represented his only minutes so far this season and it might not have been a surprise that he looked rusty.
But, he was so far off the player he was when he was partnering with Mousa Dembele and dominating the middle of the park in the 16/17 season, it was painful to watch.
Gold gave him a 3/10 in his match ratings for Football London.
It follows a summer when it looked like Wanyama was going to leave Tottenham with a deal done for him to join Club Brugge.
However, according to Football Insider, Wanyama himself pulled the plug on the deal leaving Daniel Levy “seething”.
The problem for Tottenham now is that he’s still under contract until 2021 but it looks unlikely that he’s going to get much game-time.
The best thing for both parties would surely be a move in January but Wanyama is obviously intent on only leaving on a deal that suits him.
After his cameo on Saturday, it’s hard to see how he’s going to impress potential suitors now. With reported wages of £65k-a-week, will he and Tottenham find another club willing to take a gamble on him?